


Panic Rooms

by xX_MissAnon_Xx



Category: Marble Hornets
Genre: Aromantic Character, F/F, F/M, I'll edit tags as i go, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Minor implied child abuse, Religion, alex is also catholic because i like that headcanon, alex is half-Irish, canon x oc shipping, harleen is...babey..., headcanons, i can't write smut rip me, raven is a ho not gonna sugar-coat it, this is an au based off an au, tim has no sense of self-care ngl, use of other languages
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-10 21:51:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18669076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xX_MissAnon_Xx/pseuds/xX_MissAnon_Xx
Summary: An Operator-free College AU for Marble Hornets. Well, Sub AU in my case because I'm working off my original AU.Oh yeah, and there will be Canon x OC. A lot of it.





	Panic Rooms

Alex's huff seemed deafening in what was otherwise silence, as well as the creak of the bed under his weight. The quietness of the dorm room seemed to amplify whatever sound happened to be trapped inside. While he didn't exactly enjoy it, something told him it wouldn't be long before his roommate returned from wherever he was. A job, maybe, or studying late. Perhaps a party. (It was the first Friday of the year after all.)

He glanced to the other side of the room where his roommate had already had himself set up nicely. The walls above the bed had 'I want to believe' posters and pictures of Mothman. He would have laughed if his anxiety hadn't kept the sound locked down in his chest. So his roommate was an absolute nerd. He figured he could handle that easy enough.

Alex’s gaze went to the clock on his nightstand. It read 10:53 PM with the numbers casting a neon red glare against the lenses of his glasses. He made a disdainful sound in the back of his throat. While he supposed he could go for another hour without sleep, boredom was eating him from the inside out. His eyes slowly wandered towards the stack of cardboard boxes at the foot of his bed, to the cage resting on top with a mini lop staring curiously at its owner. Alex sat up.

Once again, the box springs squeaked, though this time it was from his body leaving it. He crossed the small space to the boxes and the cage with a grin on his lips. "Hey there, Lucky," He cooed in his baritone. "Hope you made the trip ok."

Lucky, as Alex had addressed the rabbit, hopped over passively only to place his tiny paws up on the bars of the cage. His nose twitched, eyes wide with interest in anything the human had to say. (While he definitely could not understand Alex, Alex liked to imagine he could.)

Alex could have laughed at the absurdity of the scene if anyone had been watching. He was a man standing at nearly six feet talking to a rabbit with the hope that the rabbit knew what he was saying. He allowed the soft chuckle to rumble in his chest. "Little shit," His hands found the clasp that kept the cage shut. He popped it open with a sharp metallic clang.

He gently scooped the rabbit up into his arms, a relaxed smile on his face while the nervous tension from before melted away. "There's a good lad..." He nuzzled his face into Lucky's plush gray fur. "Aye, there's a good lad..." With his beloved cuddle buddy in tow, he made his way back to his bed and promptly sat down.

He sat Lucky down on his lap and brushed his fingers under his chin. "Where do you think we're headed, huh?" His voice was nothing but a murmur, soft and contemplative. "You think I'll manage to start my first student film soon?"

The door was flung open, effectively shattering the room's peacefulness. In the doorway stood a young man who looked rather bothered. His jacket and hat were soaked (apparently it had started to downpour), his coffee brown hair plastered to his forehead and the sides of his face. The pale skin of his cheeks was flushed a bright pink. He panted as if he had been running - although he probably was.

Alex sat in silence as he watched the other man. He wondered to himself if that was his roommate. A quick look at a UFO badge proudly worn on his shoulder matched to the posters on the wall above the second bed was enough proof for Alex. He cleared his throat. " _...dia dhuit..._ "

"Shit!" The man jumped, his eyes of baby blue snapping to Alex like they should have the moment he entered. "Christ, don't do that," He brought a shaking hand up to swipe the hat from his head and tossed the thing onto his bed.

Alex chuckled and gave a foxian grin. "Not Christ," He murmured. He could almost feel his rosary beads tightening around his neck as if to constrict his windpipe from making his next statement. "But close."

His supposed roommate let out a mildly irritated puff of air and stepped fully into the room. Nudged the door closed behind him and flat backed himself on his bed. "So the reincarnation of Jesus Christ is gonna be living with me," He murmured with sarcasm edging his words. "Cool."

"Oh, auh," Alex started as he bit the inside of his cheek. There was that unnecessary nervousness again, bubbling up and running through his veins when it was needed the least. "My name's Alex," He looked down to the dozing rabbit in his lap. "And this is Lucky,"

"Alex and Lucky," The other man repeated the names as if tasting their sound. He propped himself up on his elbows to look Alex and his pet over. Observant, he was, just not at the right times. "I'm Jay."

"Jay," Alex hummed. "That short for something?"

"Jamison," Jay admitted rather flatly. "Please don't call me that though. I don't even really know why but it bugs me for some reason."

"Mmm," Alex nodded. "Ok," His eyes flitted across Jay's dripping hair and clothes. "How bad is it raining out there?"

"Bad," Jay answered almost immediately. His already large eyes widened. "I wouldn't be surprised if it was labeled a flash flood.”

Alex flinched a bit and got up off the bed to return the now sleeping Lucky to his cage. "Oh hell," He gently settled his rabbit down in the woodchips and took special care to close the cage as quietly as he possibly could.

"It was just sprinkling when I left my last class," Jay shrugged and made a move to unzip his rain-drenched jacket. "Then I remembered that I left my car windows down," Pulled down the zipper, shimmied out of the jacket, tossed it haphazardly to the end of his bed. "I don't think I've ever booked it that fast before."

Alex sat back down and laughed softly. It felt nice to laugh after all that completely unnecessary worry - which he didn't even understand himself. It was something he had accepted that he had to live with long ago. "Well, at least your seats will be dry,"

Jay scoffed lightly, though he allowed a smile to contradict it. "Yeah, I guess that's one way of looking at it," He fell back against his blankets and stared idly up at the ceiling. "What was it that you said to me when I first came in?" His eyes drifted back to Alex as he asked this.

"What? ' _Dia dhuit_ '?" Alex cocked an eyebrow. "It's an Irish greeting. I've said it to people ever since my parents taught me how to talk," He hesitated. "Well, what my da taught me anyhow."

Jay nodded as he listened. "Your dad Irish?"

"Mhm," Alex hummed in the affirmative. "He came here from Dublin in search of a job. Met my ma and settled down with her.”

Jay rolled over onto his side to face Alex properly. "Sounds like he made your mom happy," Came his little positive remark. "Would you say he was a good man?"

It was Alex's turn to scoff. "My da was Catholic. He went to Mass every Sunday. Drank the wine, ate the cracker," He huffed. "Meanest son of a bitch to ever grace this Earth," He suddenly found the floor far more interesting than Jay. "Well, treated his only son like shit but his daughters were his little angels."

Jay nodded along despite Alex not looking at him. "I see," He murmured. He sighed only to find that a pregnant silence followed after. He reasoned that dropping the topic of conversation would be best to ease the tension of a struck nerve. "Hey, auh," Came his experimental tone of voice. "I think it's getting late. We should both get to bed, yeah?"

📼🕈📼🕈📼🕈📼🕈📼🕈📼🕈📼🕈📼🕈📼🕈📼🕈📼🕈📼🕈📼🕈📼🕈

The darkness of the room settled densely upon Alex as he buried himself under his covers. The burden of his rosary no longer weighed around his neck as it hung from a small nail above his bed. His glasses were off and laying on his nightstand, making everything not within six inches of his face remarkably blurry. The covers were a warm, comforting haven that eased whatever worry remained to dwell in the pit of his stomach and somehow made him feel like a child again.

The shuffling sound of Lucky burying himself in his woodchips was the only familiar sound in the room. Everything else was either distant yells of ecstasy or the low hum of a laptop fan. While Alex wouldn't ever admit it out loud, the fact remained of his abject feeling of homesickness.

The door creaked open only to give way to bare feet trudging over old shag carpeting. Jay had returned from a much-needed shower and a change of clothes. A barely stifled yawn came from his direction.

Alex thought nothing of it. The poor bastard needed sleep as much as he did. He rolled over onto his side to look at the vague figure of Jay regardless. 

"Hey..."

"Sleep well, I guess..."

Jay didn't even attempt a verbal response. He nodded and fell face down onto his bed without a care in the world.

Alex paid this no mind and rolled back over to face the wall. Again did he tune into the sounds around him in some effort to distract himself. He didn't know when he fell asleep, only everything eventually going black around him.


End file.
